BSAM0002 Introduction to Accounting

Course Code

BSAM0002

Course Title

Introduction to Accounting 

Class Date

14, 15, 16, 17, 20 and 21 July 2026

(22 July 2026 is reserved for class make-up in case there is any cancellation of classes due to bad weather or other unexpected factors.)

(23 July 2026 is reserved for class assessment, if any.)

Class Time

2:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Teacher

Prof. Jiapeng HE

Assistant Professor

School of Accountancy

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Medium of Instruction

English

Course Description

Accounting means more than just crunching numbers. The public often thinks that accountants are simple bean counters who help individuals and businesses complete their tax returns or keep their books. However, accounting is more than that! Unfortunately, many people lack an understanding of the many other facets of accounting.

In the real business world, accounting includes many areas such as setting up an accounting system, preparing financial statements and reports, analyzing financial statements, planning, and budgeting for a business, attracting and managing investment capital, securing loans, analyzing and managing costs, making purchase decisions, providing financial insight and advice to business owners and managers, as well as preventing and detecting fraudulent business activities.

Accounting provides the vocabulary that businesses use to talk to us about their operations. In short, accounting is the language of business, and this course provides you with a foundation in accounting to help you speak and understand the language of business. This course will expose you to some of the key issues and topics in the areas of financial accounting and managerial accounting.

Course Content

Day 1: Introduction to Accounting – Setting Up the Accounting System and Recording Accounting Transactions

Day 2: Preparing Income Statements and Balance Sheets

Day 3: Reporting on Financial Statements

Day 4: Planning and Budgeting and Making Informed Business Decisions

Day 5: Detecting Financial Fraud

Day 6: Course Assessment and Wrap Up

Learning Outcomes

1.     Construct and interpret a balance sheet and income statement.

2.     Analyse transactions, record those transactions using debits and credits, and understand the accounting cycle to generate accounting reports.

3.     Discuss accounting issues and solve accounting problems in a time-constrained group setting.

4.     Intelligently discuss the ethical dimensions of a variety of accounting-related business problems.

5.     Intelligently converse about the topics like:

a)     Earnings management

b)     Fraud and how to prevent fraud

c)     Personal budgeting and financial planning

6.     Intelligently write a brief, focused memo demonstrating a basic understanding of accounting and business issues.

7.     Use online learning resources intelligently.

8.     Manage workload in a self-paced learning environment, including meeting regular deadlines.

9.     Develop effective communication skills via assignments and class discussions.

Course Assessment

Participation (20%)

Assignments and quizzes throughout the course (30%)

Final Examination (50%)

The above course information is subject to change and approval.
Last updated on 20 February 2026